The pleiadic is a verse form devised by , so-called because of its seven stanzas. It looks like this:
My love is quite unlike a red red rose - No thorns, a sweeter smell, a paler nose. My love is quite immaculate; the sun Shines from her every orifice, bar none. I have been smitten, like a red-nosed clown By custard pies; in sweetness, I may drown. Each day I offer her a blood-red rose Which she declines; each day my ardour grows. The blooms she spurns would be the pride of Kew - No thorns, a sweet perfume, a lush deep hue. I can’t imagine what mistake I’ve made - Perhaps a subtler smell, a paler shade? I brandish blossoms everywhere she goes. I wish I knew why she turns up her nose.
The highlighted parts of stanzas 2 to 7 together make up a repeat of the whole of the first stanza, with each part in turn appearing in the same position in the new stanza as it did in the first. Each line is in iambic pentameter, and the repeats cover respectively 4, 4, 2, 4, 4 and 2 syllables. That's all there is to it...
Back to Verse Forms home page.
© Bob Newman 2004. All rights reserved.
This page last updated 06/06/2004